Nairobi, 24 October 2024 — On 20 November 2024, global leaders will gather in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the third Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change, a key moment to drive forward climate action at the urban level. Co-hosted by UN-Habitat, the COP29 Presidency, the State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture of Azerbaijan (SCUPA), and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions, the meeting will emphasize the vital role cities must play in addressing the climate crisis and accelerating sustainable urban development.
“The upcoming Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change comes at a critical moment as countries are revising their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). This meeting represents a key opportunity for dialogue that can help highlight the importance of aligning national strategies with local realities including the housing crisis, energy poverty, the loss of nature and biodiversity in cities and the challenge of financing development priorities. Ultimately, we believe this meeting will help maximize our collective impact in addressing climate challenges,” said Anacláudia Rossbach, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, UN-Habitat.
The event will open with a High-Level Plenary Session on Multilevel Climate Action, co-hosted by the COP29 Presidency, UN-Habitat, SCUPA, and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies. This session will assess the progress on sustainable urbanization and multilevel, multisectoral climate action. It will then transition into four High-Level Roundtables focusing on key areas:
- Green Construction and Buildings
- Urban Transport and Infrastructure
- Nature, Health, and Resilience in Cities
- Urban Climate Finance
These roundtables will bring together a wide array of stakeholders, including ministers of environment, urbanization, and health, alongside local leaders, parliamentarians, multilateral development banks, international financing institutions, and influential non-state actors. The goal is to foster dialogue and generate innovative solutions for sustainable urban development, highlighting the shared responsibility to address the urgent climate crisis through collective action.
The Ministerial Meeting, including both the High-Level Opening and Roundtables, is co-hosted by an extensive group of partners. These include the COP29 Presidency, UN-Habitat, SCUPA, the UN Climate Change High-Level Champion, the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan, UNEP, WHO, the International Transport Forum, multilateral development banks, and UN agencies, with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Local Governments and Municipal Authorities Constituency (LGMA) to UNFCCC.
This meeting builds on a legacy of collaboration, starting with the inaugural Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change at COP27, which launched the SURGe initiative to connect local, national, and global climate action. The second meeting at COP28 brought together over 1,000 participants, including 60 ministers, to further the agenda for multilevel climate action and local climate finance, resulting in a Joint Outcomes Statement with a ten-point strategy for advancing local climate action.
To participate in this year’s Ministerial Meeting on Urbanization and Climate Change, RSVP here.